Raza’s Bindus:

The Lalit Kala Akademi is the finest space in the capital city to showcase contemporary art. And Syed Haider Raza’s mini retrospective is one of those must see shows. Because Raza’s works can create vibrations – a sadhna that compels, a peace that fills your inner being.

Since he began painting in the early 1940s in India, Raza’s subject, style and technique have evolved in distinct stages through his migration to France, his interaction with Abstract Expressionism through the 1950s and 1960s and his return to a core Indian aesthetic philosophy in the 1970′s. These periods of Raza’s work, though distinct, form a continuum – one that is a testament to the artist’s constant negotiation to develop his painterly vision. Breaking away from frames like nation and specific locations in time and space, Raza’s body of work is trans-cultural in its appeal, making this retrospective an especially significant event for Indian Art on a worldwide stage.

One of India’s leading modern masters, Syed Haider Raza was a founder member of the revolutionary Bombay Progressive Artist’s group formed in the year of India’s Independence in 1947. He first came to worldwide prominence in Paris in the late 1950s and 60s after moving to France in 1950.

Paintings that go back in time become seminal works in this show. Perhaps it is the older works and a panoramic shanti bindu that is the best to savour. The large blue work which personifies the lake also belongs to a key period in Raza’s career when, after many years working within the styles of the Ecole de Paris and Abstract Expressionism, his artistic path brought him full circle and he began to integrate vital elements of his Indian childhood and cultural heritage into his paintings.

At the root of Raza’s paintings lies a strong tie to nature and to the forests of Madhya Pradesh where he was born. Though his works from the 1980s and 90s are far from representational, the concept of nature remains pervasive and integral to their composition. Adopting a codified and symbolic language, Raza uses specific shapes and colours to represent different aspects of the natural world making the works intrinsically representative. In this particular work, the elements are depicted with a powerfully expressive brushstroke that at once combines the beauty of the Gujarati coastal landscape with the unabashed appreciation of its arts.

Raza’s extensive travels within India and his sense of distance and absence have influenced this mature body of work. Perhaps wonderful too are his prints that are priced at Rs 25,000/- they are like souvenirs, mementoes of his journeys from the mirror-work embroideries to the remnants of Rajput miniatures and Jain manuscripts. Spend time alone and enjoy this one, a show of this magnitude is rare.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Uma Nair has been writing for the past 25 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. And there are those who are taught and those who are self taught. She herself had learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. And life is about learning and growing...

Uma Nair has been writing for the past 25 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is. . .